Mike Babcock faces the paradox of choice

Mike Babcock spoke to his wife Thursday morning, after the Detroit Red Wings had lost in the first round of the playoffs and speculation had already started to swirl about his future.

“Everyone thinks Ken Holland’s the boss?” Babcock said, referring to his general manager. “Actually, my wife’s the boss, and that conversation didn’t go very well. It didn’t last long.”

Why?

“Well, it just got heated up pretty quick,” Babcock said.

What does that mean?

Well, I hesitate to read Babcock’s mind, let alone his wife’s. Babcock has a habit of making comments like that, half-finished, teasing, and they become Rorschach tests. People look at the same inkblots and see different things.

“Every time I speak right now, someone tries to read into what I said,” said Babcock on Friday after the Wings took their final team picture at Joe Louis Arena. “I wouldn’t read anything into it, because there’s nothing there. There’s nothing, because I don’t know myself. And if you think I’m trying to snow you or something, I’m not. I don’t have any idea. I’m going to go through it in a logical manner and make some decisions.”

But all we can do is listen to what Babcock says, go through it in a logical manner and draw our own conclusions. I believe Babcock when he says he hasn’t made up his mind yet. Truly. But I think that’s because there is a lot to consider here, personally and professionally, and breaking up is hard to do.

Babcock has spent 10 years in Detroit. His youngest child is finishing high school, so he and his wife will be more free to move now. But as he pointed out, his kids grew up there. It’s home, just as Saskatoon became home for him when his father stopped moving around in the mining business.

“Roots are important,” he said.

Babcock and Holland are friends. Their wives are friends. He and Holland have a good working relationship, too, through the disagreements that coaches and general managers have all the time. He has a lot of say in personnel matters – not always for the best, frankly – and went on the record Friday saying he didn’t want to be a GM.

“I have no skill set to be the general manager, so anybody who thinks I want to go somewhere to be the general manager, they’re talking about the wrong guy,” he said. “I’m a coach. I love to coach. I love the players. I love the competition. I like being close to the ice. I love what I do. I think I’m good at it. I like doing it. I have no interest in sitting where Kenny sits at all. None.”

A decade is a long time in one place for any coach, especially a coach who pushes as hard as Babcock does, especially a coach who craves new challenges like Babcock does. But the players still respect him and still play hard for him, and there has been so much turnover of the roster that it’s almost like a new team compared to a few years ago.

“There’s no better job,” Babcock said.

So why hasn’t this been easy? Why hasn’t Babcock just signed an extension? Because even though the Wings have offered more than $3 million a year, which would make him the highest-paid coach in the NHL, he thinks he might be able to make even more and have a better chance to win the Stanley Cup elsewhere.

Owner Mike Ilitch is rich. But at least to this point, the Wings have felt they have made a fair offer. No man is bigger than the program. The Wings have up-and-coming youngsters. But at least to this point, none are elite. The Wings’ best players – Pavel Datsyuk, Niklas Kronwall and Henrik Zetterberg – are in their mid- to upper-30s.

“The impetus has to come from those kids,” Babcock said. “We need ‘Z’ and Pav and Kronner to maintain where they’re at … But those guys aren’t at the point in their career where they’re getting better. But these kids are, so that’s what I’m trying to say. The challenge is for the other part of the group. They’re the people that have got to push us over the top now, just like Pav and ‘Z’ and Kronner did when they were 25 years of age. That’s what Kenny and I have talked about for two days. We understand where we’re at totally, and we’ve got a ton of kids, but we need more from those kids.”

Here’s an inkblot:

“The grass is always greener unless you fertilize and water at home,” Babcock said.

Have the Wings fertilized and watered enough?

Here’s another inkblot:

“The worst day I’ve had in coaching in Detroit, period, in my 10 years here was yesterday, bar none,” Babcock said. “So was that because I thought in my heart we were going to win that series and that we should still be playing? Was that because of what’s coming? I don’t know the answer to that. I just know that there’s a 24-hour rule in my house for sulking, and I used all 24 hours.”

Because of what’s coming? Does he mean making a decision? Or does he mean leaving?

Babcock faces the paradox of choice – more options, more anxiety. No matter which team he chooses, he will be turning down great opportunities elsewhere. If he leaves Detroit, he will be leaving an owner who has treated him well, a GM with whom he has worked well, a team with which he has won a Cup, a city his kids have called home. He will be saying somewhere else is better than a place he loves.

He needs to talk to his wife. He needs to talk to Holland. Maybe his wife tells him to stay. Maybe the Wings increase their offer. Maybe he decides the roster can contend for the Cup in the coming years. Maybe he needs to talk to other teams before he can evaluate, let alone decide. We can speculate, but he can’t explore his options legally until his contract expires July 1 – unless the Wings give him permission.

“I’m flattered,” Babcock said. “I really am. But my wife and I will go through a process, and Kenny and I will go through a process, and within 10 days we’ll have a plan. I’m not letting this go forever and ever. Kenny will decide what we do.”

Gonna be a long 10 days. At least.

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